Port Chester Driver Charged With DWI In King Street Crash

A Port Chester, NY man was in Port Chester Village Court yesterday to face drunken driving charges after an accident on King Street, where police said the driver and a passenger were injured when their vehicle struck another car and flipped.

The driver, Mario Rodolfo Ortega Morocho, 27, of 66 Poningo St., was trapped in the 2004 Mitsubishi Eclipse and had to be rescued by Port Chester Fire Department members. Police said Morocho was hanging upside-down in the car, with his head against the pavement, until he could be pulled from the wreck.

A 35-year-old Byram man, who was a passenger in the car, was thrown from the car. The unidentified passenger and Morocho were both taken to Westchester Medical Center for treatment.

The accident took place 9:20 p.m. June 21, police said, when Morocho was driving northbound on King Street at a high rate of speed. As Morocho was heading north, police said the driver of a car heading southbound on King Street had stopped to ask directions. In the meantime, the driver of another southbound car was making her way around the stopped car when her car was sideswiped by Morocho, police said.

Morocho's car flipped after hitting the other car, a Lexus, driven by a 59-year-old Greenwich woman. The unidentified Greenwich woman was also taken to the hospital to be evaluated as a precaution.

Police said Morocho could not appear in Port Chester Village Court on Friday because of injury, but was in court Tuesday to be arraigned on a charge of driving while intoxicated and driving without a license.